Second Chance
by Britedark
Summary: Alternate universe. The story of Inuyasha restarted as space opera. Far, far away, in the far, far future...


_Disclaimer: __This story is an alternate-universe takeoff of "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied._

**Second Chance**

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_She died, knowing the bitter ashes of defeat, even if she had avenged herself on her betrayer. She had caught up with him too late, for the jewel had vanished. Passed onto one of his accomplices, no doubt. She had the meager satisfaction of destroying his heart before she collapsed, but she died angry, knowing it wasn't enough. Never enough! She had loved him, trusted him, and he had betrayed her, and her entire world--!_

* * *

Kikyo opened her eyes, to stare at the pale, blue ceiling overhead. That was not right. The afterworld did not have ceilings. Nor was it supposed to be cold. A person wasn't supposed to feel heavy. Or achy. Or vaguely thirsty. She frowned, and felt the skin on her forehead furrow. Wasn't she supposed to be dead? She could remember dying. She couldn't have been mistaken: not with her training and her self-knowledge.

She tongued her lips, and then tried to speak. "Where ... am I?"

"Well, well, so the murderous wench is finally awake, is she?"

Her eyes opened wide in shock. He couldn't be! Impossible! Without thinking, she tried to sit up, only to fall back as her back and right shoulder spasmed in pain, causing her to cry out. "What's the matter, wench, you hurting? Good!"

Panting against the pain, Kikyo forced herself to turn her head. A tall, pale-haired figure moved into her range of vision, topped with twitching ears. She stared at him, disbelieving. He was standing about twice her length away, a hospital bed with rumpled sheets behind him. His usual clothing had been replaced with a pale blue, loose sleeveless top and matching pair of shorts. Not that she cared. She glared at him, feeling the hate rise in her. "I killed you," she whispered. "I shot you through the heart. You can't be alive."

His golden eyes met hers, just as filled with hate, and he sneered. "Yeah, you sure did. Nice job, _lady_ Kikyo. You knock me out, steal my Eclipse jewel, and then, when I track you down to the Takahashi Forest Park, I smell your blood, and idiot that I am, I come running out, all concerned, and what do you do! You fucking kill me!"

He was raving, a distant part of her observed, his hands flexing, as if he wanted to use those titanium-hard claws on her again. "Of course I killed you, betrayer," she snapped, with icy outrage. "You attack me from behind, steal the Shikon no Tama and leave me for dead, and then decide to come back? To think I trusted you! I was a fool!"

"Hey, I was the one that was betrayed!"

"You! You try to talk as if you're innocent?" She felt her rage grow. "After the way you stood over me, laughing at me, taunting me, dangling the jewel from its chain, you dare try to insist you were betrayed?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, you stinking bitch? You're the one that came up to me smiling, offered me a kiss, and then laughed when your damn drug dropped me to the deck paralyzed. Good to know you didn't know all my secrets, like my half-Shibakan near-immunity to poisons, or I suppose you would have shot out my heart the first time."

"You are not making any sense, dog-boy," she retorted. "I never kissed you, never poisoned you, and certainly never stole your jewel. All I want to know is how you survived. I know you were dead. I looked at that hole in your chest, before I collapsed. You were dead!"

"In fact, so were you, little mortal."

The cold, emotionless voice was that of a complete stranger. Startled, Kikyo craned her head up, managing to get a glimpse of a tall, silver-haired man, before her weakened neck muscles let her down. The next moment, the bed under her started moving, raising her torso. She winced as her shifting weight triggered the pain in her back.

"Unfortunate. You should not be in pain. The physician who programmed your medications will be disciplined."

She blinked, and stared at the newcomer. There was no question what he was. His physical features boasted his origins: his height and slenderness; his silver-gilt hair, falling down to his knees; the cold amber eyes, and the crescent moon on his forehead and the stripes on his cheek. Shibakan--perhaps the most feared and despised world in the human diaspora. Millennia had passed since humanity had left old Earth, and many worlds had evolved, by chance or by choice, along very different paths. Her world, Kakokoro, had discovered the psychic arts of the mind, raising them to a level no other world could match, teaming those skills with technology to further extend their ability to strike or defend. They attempted to use their powers wisely, generously extending aid to lesser worlds, embracing a complex network of alliances.

Shibaka was different. They also had evolved, but the changes had been deliberate, not a chance response to the new world's environment. They were geneticists--the best in the galaxy, and had been so for millennia. No one could manipulate the genetic code as they could, and no one had dared go so far. No few Shibakans appeared no longer human, and their strength, their speed, and their longevity were so far in advance of the average human, that lesser geneticists swore it was impossible. Most worlds also believed that the Shibakans had bred out of their lines anything resembling compassion. Making a bargain with a Shibakan was only slightly better than dying. There was no such thing as friendship with a Shibakan, it was said, and if you thought you had the better of the bargain, think again.

No few worlds called them 'demons.'

Not that Shibakans cared.

A low, rolling growl brought her attention back. Glancing sideways, Kikyo saw that Inuyasha was crouched, his ears flat against his silver hair. "Sesshomaru!" he spat. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Compnets had your ship still three weeks away from here!"

"You, of course, are entirely too coarse of mind to be grateful that I saved your life, little brother. However, if you have any sense inside of that skull, you will return to your bed."

Inuyasha snarled again. "Make me, asshole!"

The Shibakan did not even seem to move, but the next moment, Inuyasha yelped and collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest. He thrashed in convulsions, crying out in pain, for several moments, until his half-brother made another non-gesture. "It is surprising how easy it is to control an artificial heart," observed Sesshomaru, as he walked over to the trembling form. With no apparent effort, he hauled Inuyasha up by one arm, before tossing him onto the bed. "If you would someday like to have a new heart cloned--which will take my technicians some small effort, since Father so kindly destroyed all the files on your genetic makeup--you would be wise to not anger me."

"Go fly into an asteroid, shit for brains," muttered his brother.

For a moment, Kikyo thought she saw annoyance on that porcelain face. But then he turned away from the other bed, and there was no emotion on his face as his eyes met hers. "You are the Lady Kikyo, First Rank Defender of the Five Stars Clan?"

She blinked at the formal address. "You have me at a disadvantage, my lord."

"This one is the head of the Western Kishu Cooperative. The preferred address is Lord Sesshomaru."

"Lord Better-than-anyone-else, he means," came the snide remark from the other side of the room.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she addressed him formally. "May this one infer, from your earlier remarks, that this one's life was also restored by your actions? If so, may one ask the reasons for those actions?"

"This one does not explain himself, Defender. Be satisfied that my ship was in range to teleport me to the forest section of your space station, when sensors detected a flare from the Eclipse jewel, and that both you and the half-breed's bodies were discovered and brought back to this ship's facilities, before death was too far advanced."

"Fucking, interfering, insufferable self-sucker..."

"If you wish to continue to be dead, Inuyasha, this one will find great pleasure in restoring you to that state."

Silence, for the moment. The Shibakan returned his full attention to the woman.

"This one wonders why the Shikon no Tama was ever created, and why it has not been destroyed."

She blinked at the abrupt change in subject, and kept herself from bristling. "I believe that is a concern only to my people, Lord Sesshomaru."

His eyes became even colder, if possible. "Then you are all fools, Lady Kikyo. Or do you not care for the damage it may cause in the hands of a half-Shibakan, especially if he also has the Eclipse jewel?"

"Hey!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Inuyasha bolt upright in bed. "The only thing I was going to do with the Eclipse jewel was help her destroy the Shikon no Tama, in return for a full pardon and permanent citizenship on her world! You think I like being constantly hunted, enjoy having to constantly hack into station systems to get fuel and supplies for Tessaiga?"

"You always had the option of turning yourself in," noted Sesshomaru.

"Yeah, sure, if I wanted to be killed by a bunch of stupid, scared normals, or used as a torture toy by some ambitious genetics facility. No, thank-you, big brother."

"You could also have returned Tessaiga and the Eclipse jewel to their proper owner."

"You? Don't make me laugh, Sesshomaru! Father left them for me--"

In a move too quick for her mortal eyes to follow, Sesshomaru was next to the bed, one hand holding his half-brother up by his neck. "No half-blood can inherit from a pure Shibakan, you piece of filthy dirt."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Inuyasha managed to sneer. "'Cept officially, I didn't inherit them from Father. He gave them to mother--and there ain't no laws against gifts to a lover, now ain't there?"

Kikyo could not help but flinch as she felt the flare in the Shibakan's aura, as its pure rage penetrated her mental barriers. Like everyone, she had always assumed the Shibakans were creatures of intellect and physical strength, with deliberately stunted emotions. The rage and hate swirling around were psychically convincing evidence that Shibakans--or, at least, one Shibakan--were fully human in that respect. Not wanting to see Inuyasha perish (he was _her_ prey, by all the gods!), Kikyo took a deep breath and spoke up.

"Lord Sesshomaru, do you know where the jewels are? Inuyasha stole the Shikon no Tama, but I could not sense its presence on him, when I killed him."

"I didn't--urk!" Inuyasha choked, then went limp under the tightened handhold. Sesshomaru opened his hand and let the half-breed drop, before turning his attention back to the woman.

"The brainless half-breed lying in that bed did not steal the Shikon no Tama."

She stared at him, mouth sagging open. "What?" she spluttered. "How can you say that? I _saw_ him take it! I felt his claws in my back! I heard his voice, taunting me!"

A faint expression of disdain crossed his face. "And Kakokoro's strongest psychic used only her physical senses in her moment of greatest peril?" Sesshomaru asked with open contempt. "She could not sense that the appearance was artificial, that the mind within was a stranger?"

She stared at him, stunned. It had not been Inuyasha? "No," she whispered. "I--I would have felt--"

"And what did you feel, First-Rank Defender?"

"Pain," she whispered, unable to look away from those icy, contemptuous eyes. "Hurt. Fury. I--didn't--couldn't think. All I could feel ... was betrayal. I'd--refused to turn him in after he first tried to steal the jewel. I was curious ... we talked ... I--I liked him. I asked him why he wanted the jewel ... I felt sorry for him, wanted to help him. I did help him; I helped hide him, found a place for him to stay, I ignored the guidelines, told him about the jewel, the need to get rid of it ... he thought he could help ... we ... were friends ... and he betrayed me!"

"Weak," pronounced the Shibakan. And Kikyo looked away, shame flooding her as tears stung her eyes, knowing that he was right. She had failed, failed her people, failed her responsibilities. Failed at everything.

"Hey, asshole, give her a break." The hoarse whisper caused her to look up. Inuyasha slid out of bed, one hand covering his abused neck. "Kinda hard t'think, when you're in shock--not that you'd know, oh super-perfection of wasting time." Leaning against the side of the bed, he started to move forward. "S'pose your theory, one who kissed me, was an imposter, too?"

"Indeed. Given your propensity to boast about the keenness of your nose, this one wonders how you could have possibly missed the staleness of its odor, or the scent of the poison."

Inuyasha tried to growl, and then winced and sat down on the end of the bed. Kikyo felt a stab of sympathy for him. Pushing aside the stinging sense of failure, she tried to concentrate on the real issue. "My lord," she said after a moment, looking back at the full-blooded Shibakan. "If I assume that you are correct, then, if I may ask, do you have some theory or evidence as to who the real culprit is? And any suggestions on how we may find this person and return the jewels to their owners?

He considered her a moment. "This one is more than capable of tracking the miscreant and bringing him to justice. However, it is also true, that this one has many responsibilities, which do not include repairing the mistakes of a half-blood and a normal." He paused a moment, studying her. "You and the half-breed will decide if you will attempt to atone for your failures, and whether or not you can manage not to be misled a second time, should you decide to work together. This one will return later, for your answer."

A round, plastic object dropped into her lap, and the Shibakan lord vanished. Kikyo stared at the vacant spot, nonplussed, and dropped her gaze to her lap. Picking it up, and noting absently that the pain in her back had disappeared, Kikyo examined the object, turning it over in her fingers. It looked to be some sort of monitor, with a tiny display and several controls. But control of what? She stared at it, frowning.

"Oh, shit," came the voice next to her bed. She snapped her head up, surprised and annoyed that she hadn't noticed the half-breed moving. "Please tell me he didn't leave you that." He grabbed the raised portion of her bed, his other hand touching his chest. "The bastard hates me."

Her mind leapt to a conclusion, realizing that this must be the device Lord Sesshomaru had used to punish Inuyasha. Judging from the impact of its single use, she had the ability to control him. At least, as long as he was outside of claw range. Remembering the terrible pain from those claws, she started to close her hand over it--and hesitated.

She'd already killed him once. And if Sesshomaru was correct, she had killed him mistakenly--had murdered him. Did she really need--or want--a device that could torture the half-breed? She grimaced at the memory of his body writhing on the floor. "Here," she said, holding it out to him. "Take it." She saw surprise flash over his face. "I don't want that kind of hold over anyone."

He snorted. "And you don't need it. Do you?" He took it, then turned and slumped into a seated position on the edge of her bed. Bristling slightly from his sneer, Kikyo watched silently as he examined the control. She noticed his hands were shaking as he worked on the device. Closing her eyes, she mentally lowered her barriers. Almost immediately, she winced inside, as she perceived the pain and exhaustion soaking his aura. There were other emotions swirling around him--guilt, sadness? Anger? She was so weak herself, she realized, that she could not read the secondary emotions clearly. As the crack of snapping plastic came to her ears, she reopened her eyes, in time to see the bits of the controller drop to the floor. Slumping forward, Inuyasha leaned his elbows on his thighs, his breathing hoarse.

"So what do you plan to do?" she asked, after a moment.

"Find the bastard who did this to us and kill him," he said. "You?"

"I must retrieve the Shikon no Tama," she said.

"Not gonna be easy," he muttered.

"No." She examined the fall of hair that was blocking her view. "Inuyasha, look at me?"

He looked up, and shifted around so he was facing her. "This what you want, wench?"

She studied his face, noticing how his eyes were sunken, how his skin was almost gray. Reaching forward, she slid her fingers over his shoulders, undoing the fasteners of the shirt. The cloth slipped down, revealing his upper chest, and the raw, savage scars over the left side. Letting her fingers drift down, she touched the skin over the heart that she could feel was not natural. "It still hurts?"

He gave a small twitch of his shoulders. "Nothing you need to worry about."

She pressed her hand against his breast. "You didn't steal the Shikon no Tama. You didn't attack me, or laugh at me."

"No." She felt the truth reverberating through his body. "And you didn't steal the Eclipse jewel, or poison me." He paused a moment. "Though you did kill me."

"I did not steal the Eclipse jewel," she replied. A memory flickered, when they'd _almost _kissed, and a smile briefly tried to control her mouth. "And I wouldn't ruin our first kiss with a poison."

"Keh."

She glanced up, to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry I killed you. I was dying, I was angry, I hated you, and I thought I was getting vengeance. I was wrong. Forgive me?"

He looked startled. "You're--apologizing?"

She blinked, surprised that he was surprised. "Yes, I am."

He looked away. "No one's ... ever apologized to me."

She knew that he had lived for at least a century, most of it on the run, living between the interstices of the interstellar human society, at home nowhere. "Then it's time someone did, isn't it, Inuyasha?" He turned back. "Can you forgive me? Can you trust me, if we go after this thief together?"

The dog-ears pricked forward, and his golden eyes seemed to darken. "Can you trust me?" he whispered. Lifting a hand, he set the back of his claws against her face. "Can you believe me, if I promise I'll never use these against you?

Kikyo shivered a little at their cool, hard touch, but never dropped her gaze. She felt the cringe of fear and remembered pain, and then took a deep breath, remembering all the secretive meetings, all the feelings from before. "I will try to believe you, Inuyasha. Give me a second chance?"

He blinked, and nodded, understanding flickering in his eyes. "Give me a second chance, too?" he asked finally. "And ... I forgive you."

She nodded just as solemnly as he had. Much as either of them might want to promise complete trust, pain and apparent betrayal stood between them. Truth would soften that barrier, but the evidence of truth, at the moment, rested upon the slender legs of dispassionate logic and the word of a person she did not know, and that he hated. They needed time. Time to heal. Time to build trust.

If events--and the Lord Sesshomaru--gave them that time.

She sighed, and trailed her fingers back up his chest, to his neck, and then his cheek. Inuyasha looked startled, and then shifted his own hand to caress her cheek with his thumb. Leaning forward, he touched his lips to hers for a long but single moment. "We're going to find that bastard thief and take the jewels back," he said. "Agreed?"

Kikyo smiled at him. "Agreed."

* * *

In another room of his spaceship, Sesshomaru kept himself from rolling his eyes as two kissed again. Stupid normal. Stupider half-breed. Life would be much simpler if he simply killed his half-brother, turned the failed Defender over to her people, and went after the thief--who had to be that _other_ disgusting Shibakan half-breed, Naraku--himself. But he _was_ very busy, and such a task _was _too unimportant for him to spend as much time as might be required. Besides, there were his father's wishes to consider, and all the maddening, insulting clues he'd left behind, as to why he had ever even thought of creating a child from Kakokoran and Shibakan blood. Let alone having the brazen gall to actually do it!

Besides, maybe his brother could learn to stop being a nuisance, and actually prove he was worth all the effort his father had expended raising him.

At least it might be interesting to watch.

As long as Naraku didn't win.

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**Author's Note:** This one-shot was written for the Wilted Rose community on LiveJournal, for the theme "Alternate Universe." It was originally published November 30, 2008, and took first place. For now, this is a one-shot, but who knows? (For Muppet afficiondos, my nickname for this piece is "Dogs in Space." ;-) )


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